Integrated circuits are often formed using an application specific integrated circuit architecture, which tends to reduce the design costs of the integrated circuit by using predetermined logic blocks in a somewhat customized arrangement to produce an integrated circuit according to a customer's specifications. One aspect of such a customizable integrated circuit design is referred to as RRAM.
RRAM (Reconfigurable RAM) contains sets of memories of the same type that are placed compactly within a memory matrix. An RRAM, as the term is used herein, is a megacell that can be considered as a set of memories with built-in self testing and built-in self correction. RRAM also contains sets of embedded tools that are used for mapping arbitrary logical customer memory designs to the physical memories in the matrix.
Some integrated circuit designs contain several RRAMs. Each RRAM has special sets of memories of the same type that are placed compactly. RRAMs also have a built-in testing and self-repairing component. The process of testing the memories of RRAMs and self-repairing these memories is managed by the RRAM controller. The present invention is directed to one of the modules of the RRAM controller, called the built in self test (BIST) memory.